PACE Co-Rapporteur: the amendments to electoral law cannot be applied

Renate Wohlwend, Co-Rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has said in an interview given to Deutsche Welle that the amendments to the Law on the Presidential Elections passed on Wednesday should not be applied on Sunday, Election Day.

She expects that the amendments will not in practice be used since in the small space of time before the elections it would be impossible to carry out the proper work on explaining the changes for the average employee of an electoral committee. “I am waiting for a meeting with members of the Central Election Commission to ask them how they plan to properly explain the legislative amendments at local level. I will try to explain that changes made at the last minute cannot be applied. I fear that due to the legislative chaos, Ukrainian courts will be the most overloaded courts in Europe”.

It’s vital to go and vote

Despite all the legal disputes on the eve of voting, Renate Wohlwend called on Ukrainians to go to the polling stations on Sunday. The parliamentarian from Lichtenstein is convinced that this is the only thing that citizens can do for the further democratization of their country. “I hope that the voting will go like in the first round, that is, honestly, freely and transparently. I hold the hope that the voter’s word that he or she expresses at the polling stations will finally be definitive.”

She added that the newly-elected President should make effort so that the Council of Europe lifts its monitoring of Ukraine in the nearest future.